I Don't Need You
by Italy's Driving
Summary: When Steve requires Tony's help, he learns something he had never even considered.


I Don't Need You

 **So… Avengers! With my most favourite character; Tony! Honestly, I love Iron Man. He's amazing. I love him with all my heart. And, and, and! I recently saw Civil War and it made me hate Cap even more than I already did and love Tony so much more! I thought Cap deserved to know that Tony is more than just an alcoholic that messes up sometimes. And Tony? He doesn't need Cap.**

EXIT LIGHT ENTER NIGHT TAKE MY HAND WE'RE OFF TO NEVER NEVERLAND

Steve found himself holding off a frown as he walked into the Avengers compound. He had called Tony a few days ago, as he needed help, and Tony had told him to meet him at the compound. Steve had, of course, brought along Bucky and the others. Tony was standing in the main kitchen and didn't even look up as Steve and the others entered. Steve hadn't looked around, but he could feel that something was different.

"Hey, Tony," Steve said. Tony finally looked up.

" _Ciao,_ Steve. How's it going?" Tony held out a glass of water, "Careful, Pepper just bought the set that belongs to. She'd be pissed if you broke it." Steve took the glass of water and took a deep gulp.

"You look better," Steve commented. Tony smiled.

"Thanks! You know, I took a nice long vacation in Europe. I just got back a few days ago. You know, I saw my mom's old place in Italy. Also met a pair of interesting brothers that apparently knew my mom. One was very foul-mouthed. You'd've hated him," Tony said happily.

"You're Italian," Sam asked. "I didn't know that."

"Oh, yeah. On my mom's side, at least. My dad's side is a bunch of Hungarian jews that emigrated to America before World War 2." Toy nodded. Pepper came up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

" They were German, _dummkopf_ ," Pepper corrected.

"Ah, that's right. You know, Cap, you should really see Europe sometime. It's a lot different now it's not in a world war," Tony agreed.

"Hey, Tony!" Someone called. Tony looked up.

"Yeah, Pete?" Tony yelled back.

"Is it possible to make an E flat high enough to shatter a window?" The person walked into the room, holding a large slice of glass. Pepper's eyes widened.

"Peter! Oh my god! Did you hurt yourself? What happened," Pepper gushed. Peter rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, Thor bet me that I couldn't play the flute so I decided to prove him wrong. I… accidentally shattered the window playing _Au Clair De La Lune_ ," Peter answered.

" _Au Clair De La Lune_ ," Tony corrected the boy's pronunciation. Steve was shocked. Tony didn't seem that shocked, or even angry that Bucky was there. _Why… why isn't he angry? Why isn't he paying attention to me?_

"Aren't you angry at Bucky still," Sam asked. Tony smiled and shook his head.

"Nah. See, after all _that_ I started going through some of the things my mom left behind when she died, old photo albums and the like and I realized; she wouldn't want me to be sad or feel bad about my last words to them. She'd want me to forgive him. I mean, it wasn't even really Bucky was it? Although I still wanna punch him in the face sometimes," Tony answered, laughing. Pepper had long since led Peter out to help him clean up the broken window. "Ooh~ Imma hafta get that fixed. Oh well."

"This place is kinda messy," Bucky commented. Tony nodded.

"I know, right? Bruce leaves his lab coat everywhere, and Vision never picks up after himself. Not to mention Thor leaves poptart crumbs everywhere. All the silly string is from Loki's latest prank, by the way. Oh, look out for Peter's homework. He leaves it over here all the time. Which, I think, is why he has such bad grades despite being a certifiable genius," Tony agreed. Steve looked down at a black watch box and the note on it.

 _Tony,_

 _This is less of a birthday gift, and more of a subtle reminder not to be late to the next board meeting._

 _Love, Pepper_

Steve smiled at the note, but then frowned.

"Tony, it's your birthday?" Steve looked up from the note.

"Hm? Oh, a few days ago yeah. May 29. You didn't know that," Tony asked. Steve shook his head and Tony shrugged. A loud crash made both heads whip around to see that Scott had crashed into a wheelchair.

"Oi, _idiota_! Careful with that, it's a friend's." Scott tried to pick it up, but the wheel fell off and it fell again. "Leave it alone. Not like the _idiota bastardo_ uses it anyways. I'll fix it later. It's Rhodey's, but he never uses it."

"Sorry," Scott said meekly.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it." Tony waved the apology off.

HUSH LITTLE BABY DON'T SAY A WORD AND NEVERMIND THAT NOISE YOU HEARD

It was a few hours after the battle, and Steve was drinking coffee in the kitchen of the Avengers compound with Tony. Neither were seriously injured, though Pepper had fretted over every single one of Tony's scratches and scrapes. It was slightly funny to see the shorter man wave her off. Tony still took his coffee as sweet as ever, while Steve preferred his just black. It was comforting, in a weird way, to know that at least that hadn't changed.

"Hey, Tony?" Steve set his mug down.

"Hm?" Tony didn't look at him.

"Why didn't you ever call?"

Tony looked up at him, a pleasantly confused smile on his face, "You told me to call if I needed you."

IT'S JUST THE BEASTS UNDER YOUR BED IN YOUR CLOSET IN YOUR HEAD

 **Didja like it? Honestly, I got tired of all those pot-Civil War fics that make Tony into the bad guy. When, in my opinion, Cap messed up more than Tony. By the way, canonically Tony's parents were Italian (Maria) and German jew (Howard). Also, his mother spoke to him in Italian a lot. Which made me sort of angry when in Civil War they made her blonde. I always figured he'd cuss in Italian or say a lot of random words in it.**


End file.
